Power of the Rosary---is this True?

[Mijoy2]

Mrs. H.:

I am a convert of almost three years. At first I thought the Rosary was fine as a prayer, but I didn’t understand the full impact of it. What I found out is that when praying the Rosary, I am closer to Jesus than I have ever been. I think what many Protestants don’t realize is that this prayer is a meditation on Christ’s life and Mary’s life. If you truly are meditating on each event taking place and the virtue that goes along with it, the Rosary is a powerful, powerful prayer.

God Bless,

Mrs. H.

I know this is silly but it floored me a bit . I posted to this thread (2 posts up) about my Mother. Then I revisited the thread to see that a “Mrs. H.” posted. My Mom was a Mrs. H.

 

[Les_Richardson]

rarndt01:

Peter John

Your post was very good. But what I meant was, by a “one on one” relationship with Jesus in prayer was praying exclusively TO HIM. Reciting the Rosary and the Hail Mary prayer is not EXCLUSIVELY praying to Jesus at all. Because you are first addressing Mary and not Jesus. The first words are “Hail Mary, full of Grace”.

Also I believe the Hail Mary prayer is recited some 50 times over the Our Father which is only said 10 times. But no matter. That is not the issue. Why not pray ONE ON ONE to Jesus alone, especially when Jesus ALREADY told us “to COME UNTO ME and I will give your soul rest?” That is the whole point.

Ron from Ohio

Why not do both?

 

[sparkle]

** to that !**

The Rosary is so beautiful because it touches us at so many levels. If we are just beginning to pray just reciting the words speaks volumes to God and to us. No matter how little we know of scripture or how much, it’s mysteries meet us where we are and take us higher. If we are burdened with care, we can share our weakness, our pains, our hope with the Lord as we behold His life with each mystery. We can hand over a special intention with each bead. As we grow in the Spirit so our pray grows. When love takes over and we get lost in our prayer, Love Himself stays with us til we return to our place. The Rosary is truly a bit of heaven waiting to bend down to earth and lift us with Mary to adore our Lord.

Magnificat anima mea Dominum.:angel1:

Hi Joanna:

How beautiful what you say, above. Thank you!

 

[margie]

God was made man in Mary. She therefore knows Him intimately.

We say, “Hail Mary, full of grace,” to repeat what God’s messenger angel Gabriel said to her. These words of the “Hail Mary” state those which God asked his messenger to say to her. We therefore repeat the words of God Himself in this prayer, akin to what we do when we say the “Our Father.”

If God Himself used a messenger, how can there be anything remiss about our using one as intercessor?

Futher, we attempt in our imperfect human way to imitate what God in His perfection has done–we ask her to bring Him forth, to show Him to us, to help us form ourselves to become more like her so that He might live more fully in us.

A series of books by St. Louis Marie de Montfort contain a fairly comprehensive theology of the devotion of the Rosary. They contain many answers to many questions needing answers, whether the reader be RC or other.

 

[Anonymous_1]

Heh, there is one mediator between Jesus and man this is Mary?

Wow, first time ive heard that one…
God places His Holy Spirit inside us…and the Spirit helps us pray in accordance with Gods will…

Why on earth would i need a mediator between Jesus and myself? Didnt he shed His blood ont he cross, buried and raised intot he true Tabernacle so that by Him living in us, we can enter it as well.

.I dont pray the rosary, I am also a new person byt he grace and Mercy of Christ not Mary.

2 Corinthians 5;17
"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!

Colossians 1;19
“For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation-if you continue in your faith, established anf firm, not moved from the hope held out in the gospel.”

Romans 8;34
“Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God pleading for us.”

Someone explain why i need a mediator between myself and Christ? The way i look at this is as i stated above. I dont know anything about praying through Mary. And wasnt John the Baptist the greatest of all men?..and event he least in the Kingdom of Heaven is greater than he

Maybe someone can enlighten me. Because the truth is i could be wrong, but my heart dosent aggree with some of the things the Catholic church practices.

 

[oat_soda]

Maybe someone can enlighten me. Because the truth is i could be wrong, but my heart dosent aggree with some of the things the Catholic church practices.

if you want to understand Mary’s role in the church, start off by reading some stuff off www.catholic.com under mary and the saints. the thing you might want to meditate on is the fact that Mary was the sanctuary for God. Jesus took flesh from Mary who is the new eve as Jesus is the new adam. To honor and revere Mary is to really grasp the mystery of the incarnation. Even though Mary is nothing compared to God, by bringing Christ into this world and being the mother of God, she becomes our heavenly mother. All graces flow through her.

the only thing i can tell you is to try to pray the rosary and see for yourself. you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. it has done awesome things for me in my battle against the devil.

 

[mrS4ntA]

oat soda:

…
st. louis de montfort teaches that devotion to Mary is absolutely essential to our salvation …

umm… actually, st louis said whilst it is not absolutely neccessary to have a devotion to our Blessed Mother, it is normatively and morally neccessary for our salvation.

 

[TheresaS]

In God’s wonderous love He gave us many ways to reach out to Him. Our needs…prayers…wants are known to Our Father always. The rosary is a journey into the life of Jesus and those that witnessed His time on this earth and to say the rosary is merely to walk with Him. It reminds us of the joy, sorrow, and the glory of His life. Mary was a special witness to Jesus’ life and I cannot understand why many have a problem with this mystical association!

I think Pope John Paul said it best (as he always does)…“the only bad rosary is the one not said!”

 

[henrykc]

I am a Catholic and before I didn’t have any problems with praying to Mary till now. I would like to ask you to help me to see the issue clear as it could be:

1. I have seen people praying, bowing, kneeling in front of, and kissing the statues of Mary. It is seems to me as a sin of idolatry in its purest form as it can be. People worship Mary and Her statues instead of venerate Her and we know that all our worship should be to God.
2. How Mary can intercede for us? In order to hear our prayers She would have to be omnipresent. ONLY GOD IS OMNIPRESENT. By believing that Mary can hear our prayers we give Her the attributes of God. I believe it’s a sin.
3. There is only one way to God, it’s through Jesus Christ our Savior, the Bible says that He is interceding for us.
4. Who knows, maybe evil is using Mary to pull us away from Christ and making us to pray to Her instead to Her Son. Who knows, maybe Mary in Heaven is crying because of this.

You cannot imagine how much I want to be wrong on the above!!!

Saying Rosary: we pray not to Mary but with Mary. I can accept that Mary is praying in Heaven and we are praying here on Earth but it’s hard for me to believe that Mary can hear our prayers, same with all the Saints in Heaven. In Catholic Church we believe in presence of the Saints, I would like to know where this dogma came from and when.

Maybe a Catholic theologian could clearly explain it to me? I would really appreciate that. Thank you,

Henry

 

[oat_soda]

actually, st louis said whilst it is not absolutely

necessary to have a devotion to our Blessed Mother, it is normatively and morally necessary for our salvation. thanks for clarifying

Who knows, maybe evil is using Mary to pull us away from Christ and making us to pray to Her instead to Her Son. Who knows, maybe Mary in Heaven is crying because of this.

the devil who wants you to think this. read the wedding at cana account in the gospel of john. this is when Jesus worked his first miracle. Mary said to him they have no wine. Jesus responded what is this to me women my hour has not come. Women is unattested way to address one’s mother. this is because Jesus is addressing her as the new eve. scott hahn points out that Jesus answers in the same language the demons address Jesus who are compelled to obey him. this means that Mary is totally conformed to the Father’s will because of her humility and sinlessness. therefore, Jesus always obeys his mother. not out of compulsion, but through love. if this doesn’t make sense when you read it the first time, read it again, and again. Mary then tells the servers, “do whatever he tells you”. this is all Mary does, points you to Jesus. She’s the mediator between us and him.

all i can say is pray the rosary and see for your self. it works; i’m saying this through my own personal experience.

 

[mayra_hart]

I. THE POWER OF THE HOLY ROSARY.

1. We must remember that all our supernatural power is derived, in the present order, from the merits acquired by Our Saviour during His mortal life, and we may believe that the intercession of the Blessed Virgin obtains for us the application of those merits. Let us consider now the devotion of the holy Rosary. To a continual invocation of the Mother of God we join a meditation on the mysteries of our salvation, and we formally beg for the application of the merits of Jesus Christ through the Blessed Virgin; we set in motion, as far as possible, all the mediation of justice with all the mediation of grace. We offer to God the realization of the picture He has put before us from the time of Adam’s fall—the woman with and through her Son crushing the head of the infernal serpent. Nothing can be better adapted to dispose us for the reception of the Divine favours.
2. Having thoroughly realized this truth, let us endeavour to draw a practical conclusion from it for the recitation of our Rosary. Let us offer to God the merits of Jesus Christ and the intercession of the Blessed Virgin, and for this purpose let us fix our attention first on the several mysteries, and then on the words addressed to Mary.santa maria madre de dios…amen

 

[margie]

Re the person above who said, “God places his Spirit within us…,” and therefore we have no need of Mary. Isn’t it that God asks us to bring his Spirit to life within us? God certainly created man, in his image, and breathed his spirit into us, but then our first parents sinned, and our relationship with God’s Spirit was harmed. And that’s why we needed Jesus, to show us the way to bring God back to our lives–by discerning and doing his will here on earth.

If his Spirit was/is already within us, then we need to explain the reason for Jesus’ birth. And we need to explain Pentecost, when God sent his Spirit…and even then, not all accepted Him. So I cannot agree that we all have God’s Spirit within us to its full extent.

And re John the Baptists’ greatness: John may have been great on earth, but greatness on earth does not compare to greatness in Heaven. In Heaven the least is still much greater than the greatest on earth since even the least in heaven share the fulness of the beatific vision that exists in its completeness only there.

 

[mrS4ntA]

henrykc:

I am a Catholic and before I didn’t have any problems with praying to Mary till now. I would like to ask you to help me to see the issue clear as it could be:

1. I have seen people praying, bowing, kneeling in front of, and kissing the statues of Mary. It is seems to me as a sin of idolatry in its purest form as it can be. People worship Mary and Her statues instead of venerate Her and we know that all our worship should be to God.

If you kiss a photo of your loved one, for example, are you kissing that loved one herself, or are you just expressing your love for her?

1. How Mary can intercede for us? In order to hear our prayers She would have to be omnipresent. ONLY GOD IS OMNIPRESENT. By believing that Mary can hear our prayers we give Her the attributes of God. I believe it’s a sin.

I believe the more accurate word you want is “omniscience”. Well, to this objection I must ask if you do not have the incorrect conception of eternity. Eternity is NOT bound by time as we are. This is why Jesus said about guardian angels, that we each have an angel watching over us, “who sees the face of the Father in heaven.” Now, how can the angel be in heaven and with us at the same time?

This is because in eternity one is not bound by time OR space. So is heaven not technically a physical place. Heaven is a state of beaitific vision of God for eternity. So an angel can be both with us and with God, just as a demon can be with us and in Hell at the same time. (again, even those words fail to describe the reality of eternity).

Besides, God is free to give anyone any powers. To Mary, the Queen of Heaven and earth (of which her Son is King), everything is then subject to her which is under God.

This sort of objection, then, is but a logical fallacy.

1. There is only one way to God, it’s through Jesus Christ our Savior, the Bible says that He is interceding for us.

Mary and the saints themselves are NOT our ends. Our end is always Christ. Mary and the saints intercede for us, showing us THE WAY TO CHRIST. Their intercession does not take away from the unique mediacy of Christ – which is the unique fact of His incarnation as God-Man, bridging the way between the human and the divine. The book of Revealtion also mentions about, “prayers of the saints, rising up to heaven like incense.”

1. Who knows, maybe evil is using Mary to pull us away from Christ and making us to pray to Her instead to Her Son. Who knows, maybe Mary in Heaven is crying because of this.

I witness otherwise. Our Lady of Guadalupe converted a whole nation of Indian tribes, putting ends to child sacrifices. She’s helped won battles. Many conversions are attributed to her (mine’s included). If I have to speak from personal experience, my devotion to her certainly brought about a deeper knowledge AND love of Christ her Son.

Mary points always to Christ. In Cana she said, “do as what He tells you to.” When St Elizabeth praised her, “blessed art thou amongst women” Mary immediately followed it by her Magnificat, “my soul magnifies the Lord…”

Besides, “and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it.” should be enough assurance.

Saying Rosary: we pray not to Mary but with Mary. I can accept that Mary is praying in Heaven and we are praying here on Earth but it’s hard for me to believe that Mary can hear our prayers, same with all the Saints in Heaven. In Catholic Church we believe in presence of the Saints, I would like to know where this dogma came from and when.

With God, nothing is impossible. Also refuted with the time vs eternity logical fallacy.

Maybe a Catholic theologian could clearly explain it to me? I would really appreciate that. Thank you,

Henry

I’m no theologian, but there you go…

 

[flick427]

The rosary as in the object itself, is usless, it is the prayers and meditation that is said because of it, the rosary is just a sort of “counting device”

Yes, I believe Our Blessed Mother works through the prayers of the rosary but only by the Grace of God, and through meditation on the life of Jesus Christ, Our Lord.
The rosary works because by praying it, we open our hearts to the Divine Will of God for our intentions (The Our Father) and ask our Mother to pray for us and our intentions as well (the Hail Mary)…we also say the Creed and profess our faith at the beginning as well as the other prayers we say (The Glory be, Fatima prayer, Hail Holy Queen etc…)
If we spend time to pray the rosary, it pleases God because we show him a testimony of our love and desire to give our heart to Him…perhaps it is our ferver and sincerity that help Him to answer us in different ways, who knows?, it is a mystery …
It is of infinite value to contemplate the life, death and resurrestion of Our Lord.

 

[Simes]

Hello everyone, I’m a newbie and should probably be posting in a different thread for my first post… However, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to comment on this very special prayer.

In hindsight, I would say that a lack of attention to Our Lady and the Rosary was a causal factor in me lapsing from the faith many years ago. Conversely, the prayers of my mother (who is a devotee of the Rosry) helped bring me back to the Church around 3 years ago. The sacraments of the Church along with the Rosary help me sustain my faith now.

I think someone once said something like this: ‘to neglect the Mother is to risk losing sight of the Son’. That was certainly true in my life, and I have found that my renewed devotion to Our Lady and the Rosary is leading me closer to Jesus.

 

[bfdtex]

rarndt01:

…Because you are first addressing Mary and not Jesus. The first words are “Hail Mary, full of Grace”…

Actually the first words of the Holy Rosary are " I believe in God the Father, Almighty Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, Our Lord…"

The first Hail Mary dosent happen until 168 words in. My point? It is a common misconception that the rosary is just a bunch of Hail Mary’s, it is so much more. It starts with the Apostles Creed and moves foreward from there to conteplate the very essence of that creed. Peace.

 

[Gerri_Dawson]

undefined Yes, I firmly believe that the Rosary is an important prayer and leads us closer to God. I say it every morning while I work out. Our Blessed Mother has taken several of my most urgent prayers quickly to her Son to answer. In one instance, My husband and I were lost while riding our bikes in Phoenix – we were on a trail and it was getting dark. As we rode we prayed the “Hail Mary” and soon we saw the way out. God is so good.

sparkle:

I know the Rosary is a Marion Apparition–I’ve collected probably 10-15 rosaries before I even decided to become a Catholic–because I’ve always thought they are beautiful, sacred and mysterious. I haven’t yet learned to actually “pray the Rosary” but as I’m in RCIA at present, I so want to learn. BTW, will go to Mass this afternoon and to “The Rosary” as well.

Question for all you Catholic Apologists out there–is there really something to this beautiful sacred tradition? Do you really think Mary can intercede for us pitiful Christians still on earth?

I’ve given a couple Rosaries out to friends–not even knowing it’s power but just believing in its special graces I suppose. I have 2 by my bed, 2 by my sons’ beds, by my hubby’s bed, and throughout the house. I seem to hold such a special reverance for this “custom” and here I don’t even know why yet.

I’d like to hear some thoughts on this most mysterious grace—from you learned apologists out there, most gifted ones. What do you all think here?

On another thread, I’ve thrown out the question of whether I should give a Rosary to a Mom whose son has brain damage from an auto accident, (my son’s friend in school). I sooo want to, and feel in my heart that I should, but then again, they are Fundamental Protestants, don’t know how they’d react.

Some thoughts here?

 

[sparkle]

legeorge:

Sparkle, Fr. Corapi does a magnificent talk on the rosary entitled “the power of the rosary”. It is excellent!!! He talks about how the rosary is “Gospel Prayer”, how powerful an aid it can be ( Padre Pio used to call the rosary his “weapon”) and so forth. We took a Protestant friend to Fr. Corapi’s conference where he did this talk and he is now praying the rosary!! You can order it from Fr. Corapi’s website: www.fathercorapi.org God Bless and courage on your journey!

Hey thx kind friend (and others too)~~~~~

 

[dcdurel]

henrykc:

1. I have seen people praying, bowing, kneeling in front of, and kissing the statues of Mary. It is seems to me as a sin of idolatry in its purest form as it can be. People worship Mary and Her statues instead of venerate Her and we know that all our worship should be to God.Henry

  It is impossble for Catholics to worship Mary, because all Cacholics know that Mary is not God and only God can be worshipped. And her statues cannot be worshipped becasue Catholics know they are only statues which represent her.

Worship is to honor God. Thus, if we honor our parents, it is not worship, for they are not God. If we honor Mary, it is not worship, for she is not God. If we honor Jesus it is worship because He is God. Common sense.

henrykc:

1. How Mary can intercede for us? In order to hear our prayers She would have to be omnipresent. ONLY GOD IS OMNIPRESENT. By believing that Mary can hear our prayers we give Her the attributes of God. I believe it’s a sin.
   Henry

In the bible those in heaven hear our prayers, yet they are not omnipresent.  For Jesus said, "there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, then over 99 who have no need of repentance." (Luke 15:7)   Thus, those in heaven hear the prayers of repentant sinners all over the world and those repentant prayers bring them joy.  Yet they are not omnipresent.

And in Hebrews, after St. Paul writes about the Old Testament saints, the witnesses who went before us, he writes:
Heb 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,”
Notice that the cloud of witnesses (Moses, Abraham, etc.) is NOT far away, but they we are “surrounded” by them.
Thus, those in heaven hear our prayers, for they are surrounding us.

henrykc:

1. There is only one way to God, it’s through Jesus Christ our Savior, the Bible says that He is interceding for us.
   Henry

   The Protestant idea that there is only one intercessor contradicts the bible over and over. When  Jews were being bitten by serpents in the desert, we know they prayed to God for help. There were over 1 million Jews at that time in the desert.  Just think, 1 million Jews going directly to God for help. He didn't answer a single prayer.  Then they asked Moses to interceed  for them. Because Moses was holy and righteous, God answered his prayer and He told Moses to make an image of a serpent and those who looked on it were healed.  Thus, God answered an intercessor, but refused to answer those who prayed directly to Him.       In Job 42:8 God commanded the friends of Job to go to Job as an intercessor, " and my servant Job shall pray for you"

Thus God COMMANDED intecessory prayer in this case!!
James says the prayers of a holy and righteous man “availeth much” or has “great power”. (James 5:16) And he tells of how it didn’t rain for 3 years. Just think, 3 years of drought, no water, food all dried up. People starving, etc. Over 10 million people would be praying directly to God after the first year alone. Months and months, 10 million people going directly to God. He didn’t answer a single one. Then a holy and righteous man, Elijah interceeded for the people, and God answered his prayer. Thus, the prayers of a holy and righteous man avialeth much. There are many, many other examples in scripture of the necessity of intecessory prayer being necessary before God will answer. And since those in heaven are “just men made perfect” their prayers of intercession are much more effective than asking “brother bill” to pray for us. Thus we are rejecting the Holy word of God if we refuse to ask holy and righteous people in heaven to pray for us.

 

[dcdurel]

We can come to God only through prayer. Thus the Hebrews prayed often to God and Jesus for St. Paul says in Hebrews 12:22-24 “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, …and to a judge who is God of all … and to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant”
But notice who else they came to (prayed to) in those verses,
“…and to the spirits of just men made perfect” (Heb 12:23)
The only way we come to God is through prayer, and the only way the Hebrews could come to “the spirits of just men made perfect” was through prayer. St. Paul mentions** you have come to** “Jesus the mediator of a new covenant” in the say way that you have come to “the spirits of just men made perfect”. It seems as prayer to “just men made perfect” was just as common as prayer to Jesus.

henrykc:

1. Who knows, maybe evil is using Mary to pull us away from Christ and making us to pray to Her instead to Her Son. Who knows, maybe Mary in Heaven is crying because of this. Henry

That idea is totally contrary all to the verses I quoted where God often refuses to answer prayers, unless they first went through an intercessor.
It seems that those who reject intercessory prayer are going contrary to the Holy Inspired Word of God, which clearly teaches us that God demands that we use holy intercessors, or often He won’t answer our prayers.

henrykc:

In Catholic Church we believe in presence of the Saints, I would like to know where this dogma came from and when.
Henry

All fundamental Church teachings come from the apostles. The leaders of the Catholic Church were teaching and preaching the Gospel before a word of the New Testament was written. And these teachings were handed down to their successors, the bishops of the Catholic Church. Thus we find prayers to the saints in the catecombs.   
All mistakes are made when we refuse to believe Jesus when He said to listen to His Church.  The minute we start believing other men who say to reject His Church we have lost faith in Jesus and put our faith in our own reasoning and in others.